Life lessons on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur with Peter McAuslan

| EDUARDO GANEM CUENCA

It’s a tough job market out there, and students can no longer rely on getting a job right out of university. Students from McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences longing to start business ventures of their own now have a new toolkit to help them reach their goals—the Entrepreneurship and Innovation program.

The program recently hosted “Business on Tap”, the first lecture in this year's Entrepreneurial Leadership Speaker Series. The series aims to spark student interest in entrepreneurship while tempering the passion with the reality of what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Guest speakers included Mr. Peter McAuslan, a member of the Faculty Advisory Board and Founder and Former President of The McAuslan Brewing Company, and student entrepreneurs Mitalie Makhani (PhD candidate, Department of Natural Resources Sciences) and Audrey Bolduc (BCom student), co-founders of Groundit, a start-up launched last year as a result of their entry into the 2015 McGill Dobson Cup.  Groundit collects waste coffee grounds from local coffee shops and redirects the waste from landfills by producing premium and affordable compost.

The McAuslan Brewing Company began with four employees, and over twenty-five years and under McAuslan’s visionary leadership, the company grew to 125 employees and annual sales of $25-30 M per year, with sales across Canada, in the United States, and parts of Europe.

Said McAuslan, entrepreneurs have to have skin in the game. "No one will lend you money unless you have money in."  He added, it takes hard work, "you are sweating it out, day-in-day-out without any guarantee of success" and "you need to be out on the street knocking on doors; using your shoe leather.” This is what building a small business is all about. For McAuslan, it took knocking on 280 doors of potential investors to raise capital, with the majority saying “gee, I don’t know… [insert all manner of excuses here]” before closing the door.

Start-up capital is essential, but there is nothing that you do in business that is not sales and marketing. “A bad marketing plan will kill a good product, but a good marketing plan will kill a bad product even faster,” said McAuslan. Every conversation entrepreneurs have about their business is tied to sales, and every conversation has an impact. “Everybody you talk to is a distinct market. It does not matter who it is, the whole notion that you are constantly selling a product and service is fundamental, and represents your brand.” Sales and marketing are everything; they drive the business on the tracks mapped out on the business plan.

Over his twenty-five year run, and putting all his skills, knowledge, and skin in the game, McAuslan has undoubtedly established himself as a respected brewer and businessman. However, at one point in his entrepreneurial run he was a hair away from losing the entire business. This is part of the entrepreneurial game; business on tap served refreshingly cold.

GroundIt's co-founders spoke about the importance of reaching out across the disciplines to draw on strengths available elsewhere, or the marriage, in their case, of science and management. The pair urged students in the audience to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

We are very much looking forward to seeing the dreams of this new generation of entrepreneurs come to fruition.

If you are interested in getting involved in this program, please contact Eduardo Ganem Cuenca, Program Director, at 514-398-8779 or by email: eduardo [dot] ganemcuenca [at] mcgill [dot] ca.